Tuesday Morning Commute - Fourth time's the charm

Good morning

• Cyclists in Virginia can start running red lights in July. But only after coming to a complete stop at a red light and waiting for 120 seconds or two cycles of the light. This is to deal with false negatives at induction loops. They should really have a marking that let's you know where there is one (anyone know of any in NoVa?).
• FABB points out that the Silver line Metro stations will, in fact, have parking - bike parking. And that cyclists don't absolutely need trails - they can ride on the road.
• WABA is looking for stories from cyclists who were in a crash and were denied recovery.  "We want to begin chipping away at that standard and making the roadways fairer, where those at fault must pay a fair percentage for the harm they cause.  But we need the real, concrete stories to make the case. To tell us your story leave a comment, email us at [email protected], or call us at 202.518.0524"
• Entrepreneurship along trails. It's funny he should mention the Met Branch trail. Where there are now gravel piles and construction equipment, there were plans for park space and trailside development (bike store, ice cream etc...).
• Good news: GWU caught a professional bike theif. Bad news: It's the fourth time they've caught him. (But this time, they mean it).
• DDOT is having an open house for the Connecticut Avenue streetscape project on Thrusday night. I think this project mostly includes a landscaped median between H and Dupont Circle (similar to what's between K and L), but it should also include more bike parking (if you go, bring that up).
• Arlington County wants to know where to put additonal "bikes may use full lane" signs.
• Dr Gridlock wants to know your thougths on the 15th Street bike lane (the city's best bike lane according to City Paper).

Comments

[Froggie]

Don't really need markings for the induction loops. They're pretty easy to pick out in the pavement.

[Upside]

What I want to know is, if the bike thief has been caught 4 times (and his photo is posted in the police roll call room), why won't they post his photo all around the campus? Seems like many eyes are better than just two officer eyes in spotting a known criminal. I would think that posting his photo would also deter him from the area.

[charlie]

yeah, I was going to say the same about loops. I'm sure there are some false negatives, but usually it is a pretty sloppy scar.

[washcycle]

there is one at the New Carrollton Metro that does not have a scar. Maybe it was installed with the roadway? Anyway, it threw me for a loop (see what I did there?).

[Ren]

I could be mistaken and I haven't been there recently, but I recall having an awful lot of trouble getting the light at N Quaker Ln and Preston to change without there being a car there. (Other side of 395 from Shirlington.)

[charlie]

how exactly does my aluminum bike trigger an induction loop?

[Jim Titus]

Thanks for the update on R4-11 signs in Arlington. Pardon my ignorance, but is Tim Kelley who posted the request the county bike coordinator? I've never been clear about whether Bike Arlington with its ".com" URL is run by government employees or a government contractor.

[Greenbelt]

Can be tough crossing 201 from the Ivy lane connector trail to at Crescent Road in Greenbelt if a car doesn't trigger the light. Usually not a problem, but can be intimidating for not-as-strong riders to cross six lanes of high-speed traffic without a light. There is a pedestrian button, but it's on the left side and you have to dismount to get to it and it takes forever to get the cross signal anyways.

Call me old fashioned, but I don't see how these induction strips are all that helpful in many places. I prefer predictable light cycles myself. I'm OK with adjusting light cycles for time of day and main direction of traffic. But I think a reliable signal (even if no traffic is sensed on the road) isn't such a horrible thing. Induction strips in many locations an over-engineered solution to a minor problem in my opinion.

[Rootchopper]

At night and on weekends, the light at Fort Hunt & Collingwood Rds in Fairfax County is set to change only when the induction loop is crossed. I could wait a LOOOONNNGGGG time for 2 cycles of the light. (I just treat it as a stop sign when cycling.)

[IMGoph]

do you know of anywhere that shows the unrealized plans for that area alongside the met branch that is home to construction materials?

[Purple Eagle]

IMGoph, do you mean this?
http://dcmud.blogspot.com/2011/03/largest-residential-development-in.html

It's for the undeveloped land just north of NY Ave, west of the trail. Plans call for three residential buildings.

[washcycle]

IMGoph, you need the Met Branch Trail Design Concept Plan that (I think) WABA put together for it. On the cover is drawing of that area. The link to it on the metbranch website is dead :(. Richard Layman may have a screenshot of the cover - I seem to recall seeing it on his blog often.

[washcycle]

Found it

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rllayman/182893048/

[DaveS]

@Upside: We don't deter people from free travel and assembly, even if they have a history of criminal behavior.

The question of if we should is different, but as much as I especially detest bike thieves I'm not sure I'd start usurping our Constitution to stop them.

[Jonathan Krall]

Wait 120 seconds?!? Every single time I encounter a faulty traffic signal? Even if I've already stopped at that signal before and already know it to be faulty?

Unless there is also a serious effort to find and fix all of these faulty traffic signals, this law is simply unrealistic. I have one of these on my morning commute (in MD, not VA, at Oxon Hill Rd and Bald Eagle Drive). There is no way that I will ever be willing to stand at this signal for the full two minutes (or two cycles) every freaking day.

I really like being a citizen of my community and really want to believe that our laws are a valuable part of our community. But this law simply codifies the fact that, in Virginia, anyone not driving a huge hunk of steel is second-class citizen.

Lacking a serious effort to fix these faulty traffic signals, an appropriate law is the one they have in Idaho: allow bicyclists to treat stop lights like a stop signs. That's a law that I'd be happy to obey.

[JJJ]

Folks, if your local signal is broken (doesnt recognize your bike) than call or email the government people in charge of it.

[SJE]

DaveS: how do you figure a violation of constitutional rights by posting the picture of a known bike thief? Especially since GWU is a private institution and so has a lot of freedom about what it posts on its own property.

[MB]

@ Jim - Bike Arlington employees are not Arlington County employees. The do, however, work very closely with each other.

I'm okay with the 120 second bill, as I view it as something of a temporary patch while Arlington (very slowly) gets around to making sure that all of its induction loops (and those visual/camera pickups) recognize bikes. The camera pickup in front of my house won't pick up bikes, which leads to me running a red from time to time.